Orthognathic Surgery

Orthognathic Surgery Involves Reshaping or Reconstructing a Person’s Jaw

For Dr. Hamilton-Hall’s senior thesis, she wrote a Handbook of Orthognathic Surgery. She also surveyed 100 orthognathic surgery patients 1-5 years after their surgery and all but one stated they would “do it all over again” and even that one patient (an adult male) was happy with his final outcome. Dr. Hamilton-Hall has lectured to other surgeons at international conferences about topics related to orthognathic surgery.

Those individuals who suffer from an improper bite (underbite, overbite, open bite) or an incorrectly positioned jaw, Orthognathic surgery should be reserved for those cases in which the prognosis for orthodontic therapy alone is not favorable.

The jawbones will be repositioned by your OMS according to your individual jaw malposition.

To keep your jaws in their new placements, surgical plates, screws, wires, and rubber bands may be employed. To minimize obvious scars, incisions are made inside the mouth.

The initial healing for this procedure is 6 weeks. Corrective jaw surgery realigns your teeth and jaws into more balanced, functional, and healthy positions. Although the primary purpose of this procedure is to improve your bite and function, several patients report improvements in their appearance, snoring and speech as well. Corrective jaw surgery can have a significant and positive impact on a variety of aspects of your life.

Orthognathic surgery is safe, predictable, and relatively painless. In the past decade, sophisticated research, the use of x-ray analysis, computer analysis, the invention of a variety of specially designed instruments, and the refinement of surgical techniques have contributed to significant advances in the field of orthognathic surgery.

Orthognathic Surgery can offer relief from the many complications associated with irregularities of the jaw causing difficulty biting and/or chewing solid foods, sleep apnea, chronic jaw pain, etc.

Jaw structure is also important to optimize the masticatory (chewing) system to allow pain free eating. In addition to rectifying dental malocclusions and jaw disharmonies, unmanageable prosthetic problems can be improved via a combined surgical-prosthetic dental approach.

If orthognathic surgery is unavoidable for proper malformation reform, it is imperative that all aspects of the operation be evaluated. One of the most important features of a person’s face is the shape of the jaw. The bony features of the maxillofacial region provide the scaffolding over which the skin drapes, thereby strongly influencing one’s overall facial appearance and harmony symmetry.

If the proper considerations in pre-operative, surgical, and post-operative management are adhered to, the complications associated with orthognathic surgery can be minimized and long-term results maximized.